A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai on Monday granted custody of Sameer Kulkarni, one of the founder-members of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat, to the Madhya Pradesh police while remanding ten Malegaon blast accused to judicial custody till January 6.
The MP police had sought the custody of Kulkarni, also accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, for allegedly instigating a mob to attack a church in Jabalpur and setting it on fire.
Meanwhile, the remaining ten accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, were remanded to judicial custody till January 6.
The court also issued non-bailable warrants against three absconding accused in the case after the prosecution filed an application in this regard.
The bail pleas of Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar, treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, will be heard on January 6, it said. On the police custody of another accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Judge R G Avachat directed the prosecution to seek his custody on January 6 as the matter was heard before a holiday court.
The prosecution had sought Chaturvedi's custody on the grounds that he was allegedly an active member of Abhinav
Bharat and that they need to verify records of several of his bank accounts.